he wedding-day, the women
in their caps, the men in their button-holes. It was the ticket of
admission.

Then Pere Maurice delivered his speech. He invited the master of the
house and all _his company_, that is to say, all his children, all his
relations, all his friends, all his servants, to the marriage-ceremony,
_to the feast, to the sports, to the dancing, and to everything that
comes after_. He did not fail to say:--I come _to do you the honor_ to
_invite_ you. A very proper locution, although it seems a misuse of
words to us, as it expresses the idea of rendering honor to those who
are deemed worthy thereof.

Despite the general invitation carried thus from house to house
throughout the parish, good-breeding, which is extremely conservative
among the peasantry, requires that only two persons in each family
should take advantage of it,--one of the heads of the family to
represent the household, one of their children to represent the other
members.

The invitations being delivered, the fiances and their relations went to
the farm and dined together.

Little Marie tended her three sheep on the common land, and Germain
turned up the ground as if there were nothing in the air.

On the day before that fixed for the marriage, about two o'clock in the
afternoon, the musicians arrived, that is to say, the bagpipers and
viol-players, with their instruments decorated with long floating
ribbons, and playing a march written for the occasion, in a measure
somewhat slow for the feet of any but natives, but perfectly adapted to
the nature of the heavy ground and the hilly roads of that region.
Pistol-shots, fired by youths and children, announced the beginning of
the ceremony. The guests assembled one by one and danced on the
greensward in front of the house, for practice. When night had come,
they began to make strange preparations: they separated into two
parties, and when it was quite dark, they proceeded to the ceremony of
the _livrees_.

That ceremony was performed at the home of the fiancee, La Guillette's
cabin. La Guillette took with her her daughter, a dozen or more young
and pretty shepherdesses, her daughter's friends or relations, two or
three respectable matrons, neighbors with well-oiled tongues, quick at
retort, and unyielding observers of the ancient customs. Then she
selected a dozen sturdy champions, her relations and friends; and,
lastly, the old _hemp-beater_ of the parish, a fine and fluent talker,
i